Cerrado mineiro

The Região do Cerrado Mineiro was Brazil’s first coffee region to achieve a Denomination of Origin. It is a subsection of the vast Brazilian Cerrado, a tropical savanna that covers a little over two million square kilometers (789,604 square miles), ranging from Minas Gerais in the south to Tocantins in the north, and from Minas Gerais in the east to parts of Paraguay and Bolivia in the west. Even though the Região do Cerrado Mineiro is located entirely within the state of Minas Gerais, it is still immense, with over 210,000 hectares (more than half a million acres) of coffee production spread over 55 municipalities. (Nearly half of this land carries some form of environmental and social certification.) With over 4,500 coffee producers, the region produces on average five million bags of coffee a year.

The climate of the Cerrado Mineiro is perfect for coffee production, with warm and humid summers and cool, dry winters. Although altitudes within the region range from 800 to 1300 m.a.s.l., the Cerrado is known for its flat topography, which facilitates mechanical harvesting and larger-scale farms.

Coffees from the Cerrado Mineiro are known for their caramel, chocolaty and nutty flavors with mild citric acidity and full-body.

Casa Brasil Coffees was proudly the first coffee roaster in the US to work with the Região do Cerrado Mineiro’s Denomination of Origin seal of origin. To obtain the DO seal, the coffee must meet the following criteria:

The producing estate must be within the defined Cerrado Mineiro area
The coffee must be produced at an altitude over 800 m.a.s.l.;
Producers must be a member of one of nine accredited coops and/or six accredited growers associations.
The coffee lot must achieve a minimum of 80 points based on SCA standards
Lots must be stored in affiliated cooperatives or accredited warehouses; and
The coffee must be packaged in official Cerrado Mineiro packaging and identified with the Origin and Quality Seal.